Hit me Baby

Matt and Isaac take up arms in the review/critique slog that jumped off of Don Hall lobbing rocks.

Let's not be surprised that I fall slightly toward the Isaac side of things. I am an actor/producer primarily. I am not (most times) the generative artist, so I have less skin in the game than Matt does.

If you are a friend on the inside of the game I will most likely greet you with a "what didn't work?" after a show. I know what didn't work for me, I want to know what a semi-interested third party has to say about it. I want to be better than I am right now. I can't do that without more eyes, and different experiences.
(This in no way a promise to TAKE your notes...)

If you are a friend from outside the game I won't ask what didn't work, but I'm pumping you for different information. What only reads to those in the know? What was too subtle a treatment for a non-theatre human to get behind?

I am in a great position for that because the folks at my day job (engineers) support my night walking so ardently.

After they all attended Cambiare Productions' last show it was the topic of discussion at work for a week. Transformations was a design driven mosaic of dance, movement, video and monologues based on Anne Sexton's poetry. Or as my boss put it: feminist hippie crap.

And they didn't all love it. But they were talking about it. They were able to access it, and we were able to have a discussion about what read to them. So going forward I know better what works for people who aren't me.

Which is I guess where I diverge from Matt's opinion. The process is personal, the product is public. The process is me, the product is a third thing: Ours. They were part of it.

The woman who gasped "Oh" at Sunday's performance of FourSquare (tickets on sale Now!) when Amelia dropped the first reveal is forever part of THAT show. And that has nothing to do with my creation.

But I'm not the writer... Mr. Zarate may (and probably does) feel differently.

Let me say this though. Anyone who tries to weasel their way out of being an asshole by claiming that blogging a review is different than Isherwood or Robert Faires publishing on paper is a weasely asshole. Own your words. Don't let a medium change your idea of what you're doing. Paper is not the deciding factor in your culpability.

I will never publish something here that I wouldn't tell you to your face. And if you are reading this and you take issue with something I'm saying? I have made myself available to you by the means of your choosing including phone. Use them.